AI Agents May Fuel Stablecoin Demand, Predicts BlackRock
BlackRock's research paper, The Machine-Native Economy, suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) could become a major driver of digital asset demand. AI agents may use stablecoins to pay for data, APIs, services, and computing power without human intervention.
The firm sees payments as the clearest near-term opportunity, with stablecoins being particularly suited due to their relatively stable value and 24/7 blockchain network operation. BlackRock points out that programmable crypto infrastructure can support frequent, very small machine-to-machine payments.
One example of such infrastructure is the x402 payment protocol, which allows software agents to pay for online resources during a request. Circle's Agent Stack also gives AI agents tools to hold USDC, discover services, and make payments programmatically.